Method of binding books



Jan. 21, 1969 c, POTTER ET AL 3,423,107

METHOD OF BINDING BOOKS Filed May 10, 1967 INVENTORS, Cannes 6 Po rrae 4- PAUL CHAMEEELA/A/ BY ATTOFA/EYS United States Patent 3,423,107 METHOD OF BINDING BOOKS Charles E. Potter, Park Forest, and PaulE. Chamberlain, Frankfort, 111., assignors to Illinois Adhesive Products Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Oklahoma Filed May 10, 1967, Ser. No. 637,546 US. Cl. 281-21 5 Claims Int. Cl. 342d 1/00, 3/00; B42c 9/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A method for manufacturing paperback books which entails initially positioning a water insoluble adhesive on a medial portion of the backbone of the book before the cover is attached to the book so that the adhesive extends less than the length of the backbone, and does not cover the opposite end portions of the backbone. A water soluble adhesive is then placed on the web of the cover of the book on those surfaces adjacent the ends of the web which will contact the opposite end portions of the backbone when the cover is placed in position on the book. The head and tail portions of cover and pages are then cut away by a trimming procedure so that the lines of severance extend through the end portions of the backbone and web of the cover which are adhered to each other by the water soluble adhesive.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to methods of binding books. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, the invention relates to methods for securing soft, fibrous covers to the backbone of a book in the overall procedure of manufacturing paperback or soft cover books. In another aspect, the invention relates to books which are produced by the method of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In the methods which have heretofore been used for manufacturing paperback books, the pages are bound together and joined at a so-called backbone or spine portion, and the soft paper or cardboard cover is then secured to the backbone portion over the length thereof by the use of an adhesive material. This adhesive material has traditionally been a water insoluble adhesive in order to extend the life of the book in moist or humid environments, and for other reasons inhering in the physical and chemical properties of water insoluble adhesive compositions, as contrasted with most of those which are soluble in water. After the paper back or cover has been secured to the backbone of the bound pages, the head, tail and fore edge of both the cover and pages are cut away by a suitable trimming device to produce the finished book.

As a by-product of this binding process, large quantities of scrap paper result from the final trimming process which entails the cutting away of the free edges of cover and pages. This scrap paper is a commodity of considerable value if it can be reconstituted or processed to provide useful sheets of paper or other products. A difliculty which is presently experienced in utilizing the scrap paper for this purpose, and thus imparting to it the maximum salvage value, results from the presence in the scrap of the water insoluble adhesive used to adhere the cover to the backbone of the book. A water insoluble adhesive interferes with the processes by which the scrap paper is reconverted to usable paper sheets, and other conversion operations, 'so that the value of the scrap is severely reduced.

Of course, if it were possible to initially make the area 3,423,107 Patented Jan. 21, 1969 ice over which the water insoluble glue is applied to the backbone terminate inside the lines along which the book is trimmed, no problem of waste paper contamination would result. If the glue area, however, falls inside the trim lines to any significant extent, the cover is not adhered to the backbone at the head and tail of the book, and the cover may tear during the trimming process, or the book can easily become damaged and unsightly during mailing or over short periods of use. On the other hand the equipment now in use is incapable of applying the adhesive up to, and no further than, the trim lines so as to avoid these problems resulting from inadequate adherence of the cover to the backbone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The present invention provides a process by which paperback books may be manufactured to produce, as a by-product of the manufacture, scrap paper which has a high salvage value and is useful for the purpose of manufacturing useful sheets of paper therefrom. Broadly described, the process of the invention comprises initially sewing or otherwise binding the pages or signatures of the book together along one edge thereof to form a backbone portion of the book. A water insoluble adhesive is then placed over an intermediate portion of the backbone so as to leave the opposite end portions of the backbone exposed or free of the adhesive. The web portion of the paper or fibrous cover of the book is then coated with a thin layer of water soluble adhesive adjacent the ends of the web and on that portion thereof which will contact the end portions of the backbone of the book which have not had the water insoluble adhesive applied thereto.

After the cover of the book has been secured to the backbone in the manner described, portions of the head and the foot or tail of the book, i.e., the upper and lower edges thereof, are trimmed away. The fore edge of the book may also be trimmed if desired. The parallel lines along which the book is cut adjacent the head and tail thereof will be located so that the severance of portions of the book occurs through that portion of the backbone which has been adhered to the cover by the use of the water soluble adhesive. In this way, all of the scrap paper which is produced during the manufacture of the book will be free of water insoluble adhesive, and thus will be much more acceptable for use in the regeneration of paper and other relatively valuable uses.

From the foregoing description of the invention, it will have become apparent that it is an important object of the invention to provide an improved method of manufacturing books so that the total cost of the book is substantially reduced when the enhanced value of scrap, byproduct materials produced in the manufacturing process is considered.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a new type of paperback book which can be manufactured less expensively than paperback books as formerly man-- ufactured.

An additional object of the invention is to provide a method of manufacturing paperback or soft cover books, which method is relatively simple to practice, and can be utilized with a minor amount of modification to existing book manufacturing equipment.

A further object of the invention is to upgrade the economic value of scrap paper produced as a by-product in the manufacture of paperback books.

In addition to the foregoing described objects and advantages of the invention, additional objects and advantages will become apparent as the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The sole drawing of the application schematically illustrates the way in which the method of the present invention is practiced.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION In referring to the drawing, the method which is employed in the practice of the invention is schematically illustrated as such method may be practiced in an automated bookbinding factory in which the bound pages or signatures are handled by machinery which moves such bound pages or signatures into convergence with a cover made of paper or cardboard which is to be joined to the backbone of the bound pages. Thus, the assembly line entailed in this automated practice of the method of the invention may be considered as moving the bound pages and a cover 12 to be adhered to such bound pages from left to right as the drawing is viewed by the reader. The bound pages 10 have previously been sewn or glued together along one edge, or bound by a combination of gluing and sewing. In this form, the bound pages have a characteristic backbone portion 14 formed by the edges of the pages or signatures which are secured to each other. As the bound pages 10 are moved in the assembly line toward the right, a programmed doctor blade or other suitable adhesive applying instrumentality (not shown) is utilized to apply a water insoluble adhesive 16 to the backbone 14 at a selected location thereon. As depicted in the drawing, the location of the water insoluble adhesive is over a medial portion of the backbone 14 so as to leave the opposed end portions of the backbone free of adhesive.

Concurrently with the movement of the bound pages 10 in the assembly line, the cover 12 is moved along a converging path of travel, and approximately concurrently with the application of the water insoluble adhesive to a medial portion of the backbone 14 of the bound pages 10, other suitable adhesive applying devices apply a water soluble adhesive 18 to the end portions of the web 20 of the cover. The term Web is herein used and defined as that portion of the total cover structure 12 of the book which will be adhered to, or joined with, the backbone 14 of the bound pages 10. It will be noted in referring to the drawing that the water soluble adhesive 18 is applied over a sufficient surface area at the ends of the web 241 of the cover 12 that the water soluble adhesive will extend at least to, and will preferably slightly overlap, the area of the backbone 14 to which the water insoluble adhesive 16 has been applied.

The actual length of the backbone 14 over which the water insoluble adhesive 16 is applied, and the related dimensions of the end portions of the web 20 of the cover 12 to which the water soluble adhesive 18 is applied will be determined by the extent to which the head and tail of the finished book are to be trimmed by conventional trimming processes now used in the art. This will vary from book to book depending on the total size of the book, the type of book, and the type of trimming machinery employed, but in each case will be well known in advance of the time that the adhesives are to be applied to their respective surfaces. In applying the adhesives, care is exercised to assure that the water soluble adhesive 18 will extend inwardly along the web 20 and the backbone 14 of the book beyond the lines of shear or cutting which are employed for trimming the head and tail of the book.

When the water insoluble adhesive 16 has been placed on the backbone 14 of the bound pages 10, and the water soluble adhesive 18 has been placed on the end portions of the web 20 of the cover 12, the cover and the bound pages are brought together so that the web of the cover 12 overlies, and is in abutting contact with, the backbone of the bound pages. Thus, the end portions of both the backbone 14 and the web 20 are secured to each other by a water soluble adhesive 18, and the medial or central portion of backbone and web are secured to each other by the water insoluble adhesive 16.

After the cover 10 has been joined to the bound pages 12 by securing the web 20 of the cover along the backbone 14, the final step in the process of the invention is that which is known in the art as trimming. By this process, the ragged upper and lower edges of the pages of the book are removed by severing or cutting along parallel lines to remove these edge portions of the cover and pages. Trimming can be effected by the use of reciprocating straight edge blades 22 which are brought down into contact with the bound book at the locations where it is desired to remove the edge portions. In all cases, the lines of severance will have been determined in advance to extend through those portions of the web 20 of the cover 12 and of the backbone 14 of the bound pages 10 which are joined to each other by the water soluble adhesive. Thus, the scrap paper which is removed by the trimming procedure is free of the water insoluble adhesive 16 which has reduced its value for many purposes in the past and a considerably higher worth inheres in the waste paper recovered from the trimming process.

In general, any water soluble adhesive suitable for tenaciously securing sheets of paper to each other can be utilized for coating the end portions of the Web 20 of the cover 12 preparatory to securing the cover to the backbone 14 of the bound pages 10. Preferably, of course, those water soluble adhesives which contain materials in no way deleterious or harmful to the processes involved in reconstituting paper from the waste or scrap produced in the bookbinding process will be preferred. The water soluble adhesives which are preferably utilized for this purpose include those which contain gelatin as a major component, and which preferably do not contain any of those chemical additives which are conventionally employed for the purpose of rendering animal glues and gelatin water resistant, such as formaldehyde, hexamethylenepetramine, aluminum sulfate, or sodium bichromate. For example, formulations which can be employed for adhering the ends of the web 20 of the cover 12 to the backbone 14 of the bound pages 10 may contain from about 20 to about 50 weight percent water, from about 30 to about 60 weight percent gelatin, from about 20 to about 40 weight percent glycerine, and a sufficient amount of preservative to prevent deterioration of the gelatin or attack of the gelatin by pests or organisms. A typical composition which can be utilized as the water soluble adhesive employed in the invention is one which comprises about 30 weight percent water, about 40 weight percent gelatin, and about 30 weight percent glycerine. Preferably, about 1 weight percent of the water in this formulation is replaced by a suitable preservative material.

Substantially any of the water insoluble adhesives in use at the present time in book manufacturing operations can be employed for coating the central portion of the backbone. A typical composition of this type contains about 54 weight percent wood rosin, 13 weight percent parafiin wax and about 33 weight percent ethylene-vinyl acetate resin.

Although certain preferred embodiments of the invention have been herein described, it will be understood that various changes and modifications in the described procedure, and in the typical compositions suggested for use in carrying out this procedure, can be effected without departure from the basic principles of the invention. For example, although certain typical water soluble and water insoluble adhesive compositions have been herein described in order to provide examples of adhesive materials which can be used in carrying out the process of the invention, we consider that our basic inventive concepts extend to the broad principles of utilizing generically described materials in the way described in the broad process steps of the invention, and are not restricted to any particular water soluble adhesives which may be used on the end portions of the web of the cover of the books manufactured in accordance with the invention. Other departures from the specifically depicted and described embodiments will also readily occur to those skilled in the art, and Will equally be considered to be circumscribed by the spirit and scope of the invention except as the same may be necessarily limited by the appended claims or reasonable equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is: 1. A process for manufacturing books comprising: securing the pages of the book together adjacent one edge thereof to form a backbone; applying a water insoluble adhesive to a medial portion of the backbone to leave end portions of the backbone adhesive-free; applying a water soluble adhesive to the cover of the book along preselected portions of a central web of the cover, which web will be superimposed on the backbone when the book is assembled, said predetermined portions of the web being spaced from each other and located so that said water soluble adhesive will extend at least from the opposite ends of the water insoluble adhesive on the backbone into said end portions of the backbone when the cover is secured to the backbone of the book; securing the web of the cover to said backbone by the adherence therebetween of said water soluble and water insoluble adhesives with said Water soluble adhesive located at least in part on the opposite sides of said water insoluble adhesive; and

trimming the edges of the pages of the book which extend normal to the backbone thereof by cutting the pages along lines which extend through the water soluble adhesive and are spaced from the water insoluble adhesive whereby the material trimmed from the book does not contain water insoluble adhesive.

2. The process defined in claim 1 wherein said water soluble adhesive comprises gelatin, water and glycerin.

3. The process defined in claim 2 wherein said water soluble adhesive comprises from about 20 weight percent to about Weight percent water, from about 20 weight percent to about 40 weight percent glycerine, and from about 30 weight percent to about weight percent gelatin.

4. The process defined in claim 1 wherein said cover is paper and said pages are secured to each other by gluing.

5. The process defined in claim 1 wherein said trimming is carried out along spaced, parallel lines which extend through the Water soluble adhesive adjacent its intersection with the water insoluble adhesive.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,657,189 10/1953 Pickney 281-21 X JEROME SCHNALL, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. l56--267 

